Fegato

NGC 4725 is a barred spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices. It is over 100,000 light years across and lies at a distance of 41 million light years. Just above it in this frame is NGC 4747, another spiral galaxy. And another one, NGC 4712, sits below (this is small but looks quite a pretty one for a higher resolution set up). Nearby lies Longmore Tritton 5, a planetary nebula 2609 light years distant. With awful weather this winter, getting the data for this was painful, requiring multiple sessions and a lot of throwing away of subs. I don't shoot many galaxies, so the processing doesn't really come naturally, and getting the balance between the galaxy and PN, plus adding in Ha and OIII were added complexities. My motivation levels haven't been great this year, with weather and equipment issues giving me grief, so it took me a good few weeks to have a go at this data. This attempt doesn't feel quite right, but I'm not going to do any more at the moment, so here it is! RASA 11 v2 on CEM120, ASi2400MC Pro, 28 x 30" and 60 x 60", plus enhanced narrowband from 80 x 120" and 12 x 180" with NBZ dual narrowband filter.

Just add them all in and don't take them out again. They just stay there. I have darks for two cameras in there. WBPP just recognises which one to use for which lights (probably using the sensor size). I'm sure it will work with multiple bias too.

Just in case you're not using them, note that WBPP has Grouping Keywords as well. These are really useful. So - I also organise different sessions into sub-directories (flats and lights, or a flat master if I'm re-using). I name them either Session 1, Session 2... or Panel 1, Panel 2.... and I have them set up to calibrate separately, and then Session is set up to integrate to a single master, and Panel to separate masters. You just use the Grouping Keywords table to the right hand side. re: Darks - I have all my dark masters permanently loaded into WBPP. It just picks the right exposure, so I never even have to think about them.

I use flats, darks and bias. The darks and bias are only updated very occasionally, so these remain the same anyway. With flats, it depends on your situation to some extent. I don't have an observatory, but I don't build and tear down every time, I have the rig on wheels and wheel it outside a short distance. I also don't normally rotate my camera. So if I'm happy that nothing has changed in my image train, I will re-use flats. Any fiddling with anything, or an extended time period, and I'll shoot new flats. If you need to take new flats for your second session (& flat darks if using), then yes - calibrate separately, and then integrate the two sets together after calibration.

yes indeed. I often find even the doughnut is so wobbly it's hard to make out the shape very well!

PS nice M106 despite your issues!

I have an 8 Edge HD, but only use it with an OSC (ASI294MC Pro), and not at all recently as my RASA 11 tends to take preference. I'm not sure I can help much really, but thought I'd give you one response at least! What I will say is that I'm surprised to see that much vignetting with a smallish sensor. What's your image train and what size filters? I don't get anything like that with the 294 and 2" filters. And I'm afraid I don't know why you'd get such a bright central area with Lum. What method are you using for the flats? As for collimation, I have the original screws not Bob's knobs. I find it holds reasonably well, and don't often bother to reset. But I think this is partly because I find the whole process a bit of a struggle - seeing always seems to be appalling when I attempt to work on collimation! Anyway - I wonder if your star shapes might relate to backspacing, as there's a bit of pointing into the middle going on? Maybe try pushing the sensor away a little and see if that helps?

thanks Olly, that's very kind - it was certainly one that took a lot of time and a certain amount of care! As for the Ha - well, I largely got the idea from this image, which has tons of integration and has found a bit more than I did, but to my mind is perhaps just a bit over-done in the processing / stretching https://www.aapod2.com/blog/m45-pleiades-in-hoorgb

Yeah I've had similar feelings... think the depressing weather is definitely part of it. And my clear 4 hours or so forecast for tomorrow evening has changed to part cloud, so I'm not holding my breath.

OK, so I just averaged the two images together (half and half as we say in Wales)... and like this one better!

I've seen one or two images that pulled out some faint HII areas around M45, so I thought I'd have a go. This three panel mosaic was planned back in November, but well, you know what the weather's been like.... Before Christmas I gave up on any chance of getting the Ha with my equipment, and booked some time in Spain with Roboscopes on their Tak 130 Epsilon, which has a similar FOV and alignment to my set up. This seemed to encourage poor weather in Extremedura, and in the end I had to call a halt on the Ha gathering on my final panel a few days ago as M45 was fast disappearing below the Horizon in astro-darkness. So excuses first - I'd have liked more data in both RGB and Ha, but, well, beggars can't be choosers. The HII areas are so faint that bringing them out was very tricky, and I hope that what I've got bears some relationship to reality. Anyway, having spent all that time and money, I had to get something in there! This is the first time I've combined data from two separate setups - at least that went smoothly. As for M45, I played around with HDR and masking to try and contain its blousiness... but in the end, I think the blousier version is the one I prefer. The best of my HDR versions certainly accentuates some of the detail in there, but just looks a bit flat to my eye. But then again, I keep changing my mind as they are so different. I'll attach them both anyway - always interested in any feedback! Apart from that, the wide field of view was aiming to pick up all the surrounding dusty areas as well as the Ha. I've tried to bring these out, but also tried to keep the end result reasonably subtle. It took nearly 5 months, but I sort of got there in the end! RASA 11 v2 on CEM120, ZWO ASI2400MC Pro, 326 x 30s across 3 panels Tak 130 Epsilon on Paramount MX+, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, Baader Ha 7nm filter, 189 x 240s across 3 panels (but only 80 providing anything useful!)

I like it. Not sure there's much more detail to be found than that. Amazing just to contemplate all those galaxies...

Hi Anne - 6 weeks in Portugal sounds good! Having said that, in desperation I ordered some data from Roboscopes in Extremedura in December, and the weather there seems to have been pretty poor since then. 15 hours worth, and the last 3 hours are still outstanding with the target fast disappearing for the season! Robin

thanks, yes I will try some tweaks when I get a moment. I use NINA to control everything, installed on a mini PC on the tripod tray, and PHD2 for guiding. NINA works well for me, no issues with that.

Looking at it on here, maybe needs a bit more contrast, black point adjustment. And not sure if all those colours are real or "invented" by my OSC processing...

Obviously this winter has been terrible on the weather front, certainly the worst here in my 8 years, and I won't go into that again. But with very limited opportunities to image, I then found things were going wrong when I did try, which was getting me down somewhat. My guiding had collapsed into a mess - 1.5" and worse RMS (versus a usual 0.6-0.9"), with both RA and DEC not seeming to want to respond adequately to guiding pulses, but I couldn't for the life of me see why. Also my recent flats have not been working very well. And then my ZWO camera started playing up for the first time on my last imaging run - 4.5 hours worth of images with large unexposed (black) bands across them in varying positions. Weather closed in again, and I just left it, and for the first time in a while wasn't even looking at the night time weather forecast. Time off helps I guess, as does a short holiday in the South of France, and I've now stripped everything down, checked my mount belt tension and gear meshing, cleaned up all my glass, and put it all back together again. I'll have another go when I can, but I'm not impatient to do so right now. Anyway - I produced an awful looking Sh2-280 and 282 image from early in that last run at the beginning of the month. The flats had made a mess of it. So I took some more flats with longer exposures yesterday, and they worked better. So here it is - some sort of an image. Nothing special - some stars and nebulosity, and I've tried not to over-stretch and saturate to find something that's not there. RASA 11 on CEM120, ASI2400MC Pro, 144 x 30s

Yes well done Göran, interesting stuff and a very nice wide field. I've just about given up at the moment the weather has been so bad, and have made a dash to the South of France, where at least I can see the stars, even if I can't image them (suppose I should invest in a mini portable setup for such occasions, but can't quite raise the motivation levels to do so)

Blimey! None...

That's a wonderful IC443 - subtly done and lots of nice detail! My only comment would be the stars - to my eye the bluer ones seem maybe a bit purple? But then my eyes are not what they were...

Yes I can see it on Aladin too. I checked on http://planetarynebulae.net/ and I can't see anything at that location - RA 06 46 25, DEC 08 29 00, although I only did a quick search, so you might want to go on there and do a thorough check. Certainly looks a bit like a PN to me. Maybe one with your name on it, you never know!?

Well I'm kicking myself. My Sunday night forecast deteriorated so I left the rig inside - stupid!. By 7pm it was totally clear here, and stayed that way at least 2 hours. And then it was totally clear from 3 or 4am. I could have finished off two unfinished images with those two slots. Bah!

yes, I might have a brief hole at 2am this morning, but I can't honestly be arsed with that! Sunday night forecast looks good, but like Richard, I'm not holding my breath...

It's raining. I should be pruning apple trees, but not in this. So, I thought I'd re-process some horsehead nebula data from last year. The inspiration for this is the stunning recent IoD by John Hayes on Astrobin here - https://astrob.in/1xk09q/C/ My data comes from a 4 panel mosaic of the Orion's Belt area, and in this wide field the horsehead area was stretched to the limit - very pink, and NGC 2023 very blown out. So with this I've tried to bring out the vibrant colour that John managed and a bit more detail than my previous attempt. Of course, I can't compete with a CDK20 at 0.5 arc secs per pixel in rarified Chilean skies (or with John's processing skills), so this is just a smudgy imitation! I also had major issues with colour, and despite calibrating every combination of monitors and laptop screens I have, I still always seem to get a more vibrant rendition on my dedicated Pixinsight system than I do when I move it elsewhere. So now I'm not sure I haven't overdone it. I should also probably have pre-processed again with a 2x drizzle for this level of crop. Ah well, sure there'll be another rainy day soon to have another go... RASA 11 on CEM120, ASI2400MC Pro, 102 x 30s, data from January 2023.

I should add that as soon as I put my Roboscopes order in, Spain seemed to be hit by a blanket of cloud! 😂

I agree with the others - a really nice composition! Good luck with the completion. I'm normally quite quick getting mine done (mostly broadband with RASA), but I've been sitting on five unfinished images for the last few weeks - very frustrating. One got finished last week, one has the broadband completed but needs a lot of Ha and I have ended up giving up and sourcing this at Roboscopes so will hopefully get it finished this season, and the others await some clear nights!